Letter: Obamacare is a sham

Right now, the White House is celebrating that at least 45,000 Louisianians signed up for Obamacare. I'm among that number - but I'm not celebrating with the president.

Obamacare has done nothing but harm my family.

Late last year, I received a letter from our health insurance company saying they were "discontinuing" my health care plan to comply with Obamacare. Never mind that the president told me I could keep my health care plan if I liked it, which I did.

As a Marine Corps reservist who served two deployments in Iraq, I had purchased a health care plan through USAA. It fit my exact needs. It only cost us $2,100 a year in premiums with a $3,500 deductible.

Obamacare essentially made this plan illegal. The law mandates that I pay for treatments, procedures and products I don't need. It forces me to subsidize others who would use such services.

This mandatory generosity quickly becomes expensive. We discovered this when we started shopping around for a new plan. The cheapest plan we could find on the Louisiana exchange had higher deductibles and premiums and didn't include dental or vision. Nor were we eligible for subsidies.

Our best remaining option was to buy a similar plan from our old insurer at a much higher cost. Including Obamacare's new coverage mandates, it would cost us 71 percent more in premiums.

We can't just absorb this spike. We've had to look at our expenses and shift them around in order to pay for our Obamacare plan. Among other things, my wife and I have had to make difficult decisions about when to start our family.

No government law should force such choices on us. After years of serving my country, Washington now tells me that it knows what's best for me with my health care. Obamacare treats my wife and I like we're not responsible enough to make our own decisions.

That's why the president is wrong when he says that Obamacare is "working." Millions may have new health care plans, but that says nothing about whether their old plans were canceled, whether they like their new plans or were just forced to buy them, or whether Obamacare has left them in worse financial shape like it has my family.

My wife and I want to know why we were lied to - and why we're being forced by Washington to make choices we can't afford and don't want.

Chris Schiff

Madisonville

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Email this article

Letter: Obamacare is a sham

Right now, the White House is celebrating that at least 45,000 Louisianians signed up for Obamacare. I'm among that number ? but I'm not celebrating with the president.